Transmission of ul control channels with dynamic structures

ABSTRACT

A method of a user equipment (UE) for transmitting acknowledgement information. The method comprises receiving a physical downlink control channel conveying a downlink control information (DCI) format, a physical downlink shared channel conveying one or more data transport blocks scheduled by the DCI format, and configuration information for transmission of a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) conveying acknowledgement information in response to the reception of the one or more data transport blocks; and transmitting the PUCCH in time-frequency resources within a first slot. An index of the first slot is configured by the DCI format. The time-frequency resources within the first slot are configured by the DCI format through a configuration of an index of a first symbol, a number of consecutive slot symbols, and an index of a first frequency resource block.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS AND CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application is a continuation of U.S. Non-Provisional patentapplication Ser. No. 16/946,720 filed Jul. 1, 2020, which is acontinuation of U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No.15/791,014 filed Oct. 23, 2017, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,708,938, and claimspriority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/415,235 filedOct. 31, 2016, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/451,889 filedJan. 30, 2017, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/542,458filed Aug. 8, 2017. The content of the above-identified patent documentsis incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present application relates generally to a wireless communicationsystem. More specifically, this disclosure relates to supportingtransmissions of uplink control channels with dynamic structure.

BACKGROUND

A user equipment (UE) is commonly referred to as a terminal or a mobilestation, can be fixed or mobile, and can be a cellular phone, a personalcomputer device, or an automated device. A gNB is generally a fixedstation and can also be referred to as a base station, an access point,or other equivalent terminology. A communication system includes adownlink (DL) that refers to transmissions from a base station or one ormore transmission points to UEs and an uplink (UL) that refers totransmissions from UEs to a base station or to one or more receptionpoints.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure relates to a pre-5^(th)-generation (5G) or 5Gcommunication system to be provided for supporting higher data ratesbeyond 4^(th)-generation (4G) communication system such as long termevolution (LTE). The present disclosure relates to defining physicaluplink control channel (PUCCH) structures supporting variable numbers ofavailable symbols for a PUCCH transmission; indicating a duration or aformat for a PUCCH transmission by a downlink control information (DCI)format triggering the PUCCH transmission; increasing a multiplexingcapacity of a PUCCH transmitted over one or multiple frequency resourceblocks (RBs); determining a power for a PUCCH transmission over avariable number of symbols; and defining mechanisms for providingdynamic resource availability for transmission of scheduling requests(SRs) from user equipments (UEs).

In one embodiment, a user equipment (UE) comprises a receiver configuredto receive a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) conveying adownlink control information (DCI) format, receive a physical downlinkshared channel (PDSCH) conveying one or more data transport blocksscheduled by the DCI format, and receive configuration information fortransmission of a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) conveyingacknowledgement information in response to receiving the one or moredata transport blocks. The UE further comprises a transmitter configuredto transmit the PUCCH in time-frequency resources within a first slot.An index of the first slot is configured by the DCI format. Thetime-frequency resources within the first slot are configured by the DCIformat through a configuration of an index of a first slot symbol, anumber of consecutive slot symbols N_(symbols) ^(slot), and an index ofa first frequency resource block (RB).

In another embodiment, a base station comprises a transmitter configuredto transmit a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) conveying adownlink control information (DCI) format, transmit a physical downlinkshared channel (PDSCH) conveying one or more data transport blocksscheduled by the DCI format, and transmit configuration information forreception of a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) conveyingacknowledgement information in response to transmitting the one or moredata transport blocks. The base station further comprises a receiverconfigured to receive the PUCCH in time-frequency resources within afirst slot. An index of the first slot is configured by the DCI format.The time-frequency resources within the first slot are configured by theDCI format through a configuration of an index of a first symbol, anumber of consecutive symbols N_(symbols) ^(slot), and an index of afirst frequency resource block (RB).

In yet another embodiment, a method of a user equipment (UE) fortransmitting acknowledgement information is provided. The methodcomprises receiving a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)conveying a downlink control information (DCI) format, receiving aphysical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) conveying one or more datatransport blocks scheduled by the DCI format, receiving configurationinformation for transmission of a physical uplink control channel(PUCCH) conveying acknowledgement information in response to receivingthe one or more data transport blocks, and transmitting the PUCCH intime-frequency resources within a first slot. An index of the first slotis configured by the DCI format. The time-frequency resources within thefirst slot are configured by the DCI format through a configuration ofan index of a first symbol, a number of consecutive symbols N_(symbols)^(slot), an index of a first frequency resource block (RB).

Other technical features may be readily apparent to one skilled in theart from the following figures, descriptions, and claims.

Before undertaking the DETAILED DESCRIPTION below, it may beadvantageous to set forth definitions of certain words and phrases usedthroughout this patent document. The term “couple” and derivatives referto any direct or indirect communication between two or more elements,whether or not those elements are in physical contact with one another.The terms “transmit,” “receive,” and “communicate,” as well asderivatives thereof, encompass both direct and indirect communication.The terms “include” and “comprise,” as well as derivatives thereof, meaninclusion without limitation. The term “or” is inclusive, meaningand/or. The phrase “associated with,” as well as derivatives thereof,means to include, be included within, interconnect with, contain, becontained within, connect to or with, couple to or with, be communicablewith, cooperate with, interleave, juxtapose, be proximate to, be boundto or with, have, have a property of, have a relationship to or with, orthe like. The term “controller” means any device, system or part thereofthat controls at least one operation. Such a controller may beimplemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and software and/orfirmware. The functionality associated with any particular controllermay be centralized or distributed, whether locally or remotely. Thephrase “at least one of,” when used with a list of items, means thatdifferent combinations of one or more of the listed items may be used,and only one item in the list may be needed. For example, “at least oneof: A, B, and C” includes any of the following combinations: A, B, C, Aand B, A and C, B and C, and A and B and C.

Moreover, various functions described below can be implemented orsupported by one or more computer programs, each of which is formed fromcomputer readable program code and embodied in a computer readablemedium. The terms “application” and “program” refer to one or morecomputer programs, software components, sets of instructions,procedures, functions, objects, classes, instances, related data, or aportion thereof adapted for implementation in a suitable computerreadable program code. The phrase “computer readable program code”includes any type of computer code, including source code, object code,and executable code. The phrase “computer readable medium” includes anytype of medium capable of being accessed by a computer, such as readonly memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), a hard disk drive, acompact disc (CD), a digital video disc (DVD), or any other type ofmemory. A “non-transitory” computer readable medium excludes wired,wireless, optical, or other communication links that transporttransitory electrical or other signals. A non-transitory computerreadable medium includes media where data can be permanently stored andmedia where data can be stored and later overwritten, such as arewritable optical disc or an erasable memory device.

Definitions for other certain words and phrases are provided throughoutthis patent document. Those of ordinary skill in the art shouldunderstand that in many if not most instances, such definitions apply toprior as well as future uses of such defined words and phrases.

Aspects, features, and advantages of the present disclosure are readilyapparent from the following detailed description, simply by illustratinga number of particular embodiments and implementations, including thebest mode contemplated for carrying out the present disclosure. Thepresent disclosure is also capable of other and different embodiments,and its several details can be modified in various obvious respects, allwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded asillustrative in nature, and not as restrictive. The present disclosureis illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in thefigures of the accompanying drawings.

In the following, both frequency division duplexing (FDD) and timedivision duplexing (TDD) are considered as the duplex method for DL andUL signaling.

Although exemplary descriptions and embodiments to follow assumeorthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) or orthogonalfrequency division multiple access (OFDMA), this present disclosure canbe extended to other OFDM-based transmission waveforms or multipleaccess schemes such as filtered OFDM (F-OFDM) or OFDM with zero cyclicprefix.

This present disclosure covers several components which can be used inconjunction or in combination with one another, or can operate asstandalone schemes

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the present disclosure and itsadvantages, reference is now made to the following description taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like referencenumerals represent like parts:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless network according to embodimentsof the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example gNB according to embodiments of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example UE according to embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 4A illustrates a high-level diagram of an orthogonal frequencydivision multiple access transmit path according to embodiments of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 4B illustrates a high-level diagram of an orthogonal frequencydivision multiple access receive path according to embodiments of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates an example DL slot structure for PDSCH transmissionor PDCCH transmission according to embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates an example UL slot structure for PUSCH transmissionor PUCCH transmission according to embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 7 illustrates an example encoding process for a DCI formataccording to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 illustrates an example decoding process for a DCI format for usewith a UE according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 illustrates an example PUCCH Format 3 structure according toembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 illustrates an example process for a UE according to embodimentsof the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 illustrates another example process for a UE according toembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 12 illustrates an example first six symbols for a long PUCCH formattransmission according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 13 illustrates another example first six symbols for a long PUCCHformat transmission according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 14 illustrates yet another example process for a UE according toembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 15 illustrates yet another example process for a UE according toembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 16 illustrates an example power adjustment depending on a number ofavailable symbols for PUCCH transmission according to embodiments of thepresent disclosure; and

FIG. 17 illustrates yet another example process for a UE according toembodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIGS. 1 through 17, discussed below, and the various embodiments used todescribe the principles of the present disclosure in this patentdocument are by way of illustration only and should not be construed inany way to limit the scope of the disclosure. Those skilled in the artmay understand that the principles of the present disclosure may beimplemented in any suitably arranged system or device.

The following documents and standards descriptions are herebyincorporated by reference into the present disclosure as if fully setforth herein: 3GPP TS 36.211 v13.2.0, “E-UTRA, Physical channels andmodulation;” 3GPP TS 36.212 v13.2.0, “E-UTRA, Multiplexing and Channelcoding;” 3GPP TS 36.213 v13.2.0, “E-UTRA, Physical Layer Procedures;”3GPP TS 36.321 v13.2.0, “E-UTRA, Medium Access Control (MAC) protocolspecification;” and 3GPP TS 36.331 v13.2.0, “E-UTRA, Radio ResourceControl (RRC) Protocol Specification.”

To meet the demand for wireless data traffic having increased sincedeployment of 4G communication systems, efforts have been made todevelop an improved 5G or pre-5G communication system. Therefore, the 5Gor pre-5G communication system is also called a “Beyond 4G Network” or a“Post LTE System.”

The 5G communication system is considered to be implemented in higherfrequency (mmWave) bands, e.g., 60GHz bands, so as to accomplish higherdata rates. To decrease propagation loss of the radio waves and increasethe transmission coverage, the beamforming, massive multiple-inputmultiple-output (MIMO), full dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antenna,an analog beam forming, large scale antenna techniques and the like arediscussed in 5G communication systems.

In addition, in 5G communication systems, development for system networkimprovement is under way based on advanced small cells, cloud radioaccess networks (RANs), ultra-dense networks, device-to-device (D2D)communication, wireless backhaul communication, moving network,cooperative communication, coordinated multi-points (CoMP) transmissionand reception, interference mitigation and cancellation and the like.

In the 5G system, hybrid frequency shift keying and quadrature amplitudemodulation (FQAM) and sliding window superposition coding (SWSC) as anadaptive modulation and coding (AMC) technique, and filter bank multicarrier (FBMC), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), and sparse codemultiple access (SCMA) as an advanced access technology have beendeveloped.

FIGS. 1-4B below describe various embodiments implemented in wirelesscommunications systems and with the use of OFDM or OFDMA communicationtechniques. The descriptions of FIGS. 1-3 are not meant to implyphysical or architectural limitations to the manner in which differentembodiments may be implemented. Different embodiments of the presentdisclosure may be implemented in any suitably-arranged communicationssystem.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless network 100 according toembodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the wirelessnetwork 100 shown in FIG. 1 is for illustration only. Other embodimentsof the wireless network 100 could be used without departing from thescope of this disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 1, the wireless network 100 includes a gNB 101, a gNB102, and a gNB 103. The gNB 101 communicates with the gNB 102 and thegNB 103. The gNB 101 also communicates with at least one network 130,such as the Internet, a proprietary internet protocol (IP) network, orother data network.

The gNB 102 provides wireless broadband access to the network 130 for afirst plurality of user equipments (UEs) within a coverage area 120 ofthe gNB 102. The first plurality of UEs includes a UE 111, which may belocated in a small business (SB); a UE 112, which may be located in anenterprise (E); a UE 113, which may be located in a WiFi hotspot (HS); aUE 114, which may be located in a first residence (R); a UE 115, whichmay be located in a second residence (R); and a UE 116, which may be amobile device (M), such as a cell phone, a wireless laptop, a wirelessPDA, or the like. The gNB 103 provides wireless broadband access to thenetwork 130 for a second plurality of UEs within a coverage area 125 ofthe gNB 103. The second plurality of UEs includes the UE 115 and the UE116. In some embodiments, one or more of the gNBs 101-103 maycommunicate with each other and with the UEs 111-116 using 5G, LTE,LTE-A, WiMAX, WiFi, or other wireless communication techniques.

Depending on the network type, the term “base station” or “BS” can referto any component (or collection of components) configured to providewireless access to a network, such as transmit point (TP),transmit-receive point (TRP), an enhanced base station (eNodeB or gNB),gNB, a macrocell, a femtocell, a WiFi access point (AP), or otherwirelessly enabled devices. Base stations may provide wireless access inaccordance with one or more wireless communication protocols, e.g., 5G3GPP new radio interface/access (NR), long term evolution (LTE) , LTEadvanced (LTE-A) , high speed packet access (HSPA), Wi-Fi802.11a/b/g/n/ac, etc.. For the sake of convenience, the terms “eNodeB”and “gNB” are used in this patent document to refer to networkinfrastructure components that provide wireless access to remoteterminals. Also, depending on the network type, other well-known termsmay be used instead of “user equipment” or “UE,” such as “mobilestation,” “subscriber station,” “remote terminal,” “wireless terminal,”or “user device.” For the sake of convenience, the terms “userequipment” and “UE” are used in this patent document to refer to remotewireless equipment that wirelessly accesses a gNB, whether the UE is amobile device (such as a mobile telephone or smartphone) or is normallyconsidered a stationary device (such as a desktop computer or vendingmachine).

Dotted lines show the approximate extents of the coverage areas 120 and125, which are shown as approximately circular for the purposes ofillustration and explanation only. It should be clearly understood thatthe coverage areas associated with gNBs, such as the coverage areas 120and 125, may have other shapes, including irregular shapes, dependingupon the configuration of the gNBs and variations in the radioenvironment associated with natural and man-made obstructions.

As described in more detail below, one or more of the UEs 111-116include circuitry, programming, or a combination thereof, for efficientCSI reporting on an uplink channel in an advanced wireless communicationsystem. In certain embodiments, and one or more of the gNBs 101-103includes circuitry, programming, or a combination thereof, for receivingefficient CSI reporting on an uplink channel in an advanced wirelesscommunication system.

Although FIG. 1 illustrates one example of a wireless network 100,various changes may be made to FIG. 1. For example, the wireless network100 could include any number of gNBs and any number of UEs in anysuitable arrangement. Also, the gNB 101 could communicate directly withany number of UEs and provide those UEs with wireless broadband accessto the network 130. Similarly, each gNB 102-103 could communicatedirectly with the network 130 and provide UEs with direct wirelessbroadband access to the network 130. Further, the gNBs 101, 102, and/or103 could provide access to other or additional external networks, suchas external telephone networks or other types of data networks.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example gNB 102 according to embodiments of thepresent disclosure. The embodiment of the gNB 102 illustrated in FIG. 2is for illustration only, and the gNBs 101 and 103 of FIG. 1 could havethe same or similar configuration. However, gNBs come in a wide varietyof configurations, and FIG. 2 does not limit the scope of thisdisclosure to any particular implementation of a gNB.

As shown in FIG. 2, the gNB 102 includes multiple antennas 205 a-205 n,multiple RF transceivers 210 a-210 n, transmit (TX) processing circuitry215, and receive (RX) processing circuitry 220. The gNB 102 alsoincludes a controller/processor 225, a memory 230, and a backhaul ornetwork interface 235.

The RF transceivers 210 a-210 n receive, from the antennas 205 a-205 n,incoming RF signals, such as signals transmitted by UEs in the network100. The RF transceivers 210 a-210 n down-convert the incoming RFsignals to generate IF or baseband signals. The IF or baseband signalsare sent to the RX processing circuitry 220, which generates processedbaseband signals by filtering, decoding, and/or digitizing the basebandor IF signals. The RX processing circuitry 220 transmits the processedbaseband signals to the controller/processor 225 for further processing.In some embodiments, the RF transceivers 210 a-210 n are capable oftransmitting a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) conveying adownlink control information (DCI) format, a physical downlink sharedchannel (PDSCH) conveying one or more data transport blocks scheduled bythe DCI format, and configuration information for reception of aphysical uplink control channel (PUCCH) conveying acknowledgementinformation in response to transmitting the one or more data transportblocks.

In some embodiments, the RF transceivers 210 a-210 n are capable ofreceiving the PUCCH in time-frequency resources within a first slot. Anindex of the first slot is configured by N_(symbols) ^(slot), and anindex of a first frequency resource block (RB).

In some embodiments, the RF transceivers 210 a-210 n are capable ofreceiving the PUCCH in time-frequency resources within a second slot. Anindex of a first slot symbol and a number of consecutive slot symbolsfor the PUCCH reception within the second slot are same as therespective ones within the first slot.

In some embodiments, the RF transceivers 210 a-210 n are capable ofreceiving the PUCCH by receiving reference signals and acknowledgementsignals in an alternating manner per slot symbol over the number ofconsecutive slot symbols.

In some embodiments, the RF transceivers 210 a-210 n are capable oftransmitting a configuration information of a cyclic shift for asequence and of receiving the sequence with the cyclic shift in at leastone slot symbol from the number of consecutive slot symbols N_(symbols)^(slot).

In some embodiments, the RF transceivers 210 a-210 n are capable oftransmitting a configuration information for a code rate and ofreceiving the PUCCH over a number of consecutive frequency RBs, startingfrom the first frequency RB, and wherein the number of consecutivefrequency RBs is a smallest number resulting to an acknowledgementinformation code rate that is smaller than or equal to the code rate.

In some embodiments, the RF transceivers 210 a-210 n are capable oftransmitting a broadcast channel indicating a maximum number of firstslot symbols that are used for downlink transmissions.

The TX processing circuitry 215 receives analog or digital data (such asvoice data, web data, e-mail, or interactive video game data) from thecontroller/processor 225. The TX processing circuitry 215 encodes,multiplexes, and/or digitizes the outgoing baseband data to generateprocessed baseband or IF signals. The RF transceivers 210 a-210 nreceive the outgoing processed baseband or IF signals from the TXprocessing circuitry 215 and up-converts the baseband or IF signals toRF signals that are transmitted via the antennas 205 a-205 n.

The controller/processor 225 can include one or more processors or otherprocessing devices that control the overall operation of the gNB 102.For example, the controller/processor 225 could control the reception offorward channel signals and the transmission of reverse channel signalsby the RF transceivers 210 a-210 n, the RX processing circuitry 220, andthe TX processing circuitry 215 in accordance with well-knownprinciples. The controller/processor 225 could support additionalfunctions as well, such as more advanced wireless communicationfunctions. For instance, the controller/processor 225 could support beamforming or directional routing operations in which outgoing signals frommultiple antennas 205 a-205 n are weighted differently to effectivelysteer the outgoing signals in a desired direction. Any of a wide varietyof other functions could be supported in the gNB 102 by thecontroller/processor 225.

In some embodiments, the controller/processor 225 includes at least onemicroprocessor or microcontroller. As described in more detail below,the gNB 102 may include circuitry, programming, or a combination thereoffor processing of an uplink channel and/or a downlink channel. Forexample, controller/processor 225 can be configured to execute one ormore instructions, stored in memory 230, that are configured to causethe controller/processor to process the signal.

The controller/processor 225 is also capable of executing programs andother processes resident in the memory 230, such as an OS. Thecontroller/processor 225 can move data into or out of the memory 230 asrequired by an executing process.

The controller/processor 225 is also coupled to the backhaul or networkinterface 235. The backhaul or network interface 235 allows the gNB 102to communicate with other devices or systems over a backhaul connectionor over a network. The interface 235 could support communications overany suitable wired or wireless connection(s). For example, when the gNB102 is implemented as part of a cellular communication system (such asone supporting 5G, LTE, or LTE-A), the interface 235 could allow the gNB102 to communicate with other gNBs over a wired or wireless backhaulconnection. When the gNB 102 is implemented as an access point, theinterface 235 could allow the gNB 102 to communicate over a wired orwireless local area network or over a wired or wireless connection to alarger network (such as the Internet). The interface 235 includes anysuitable structure supporting communications over a wired or wirelessconnection, such as an Ethernet or RF transceiver.

The memory 230 is coupled to the controller/processor 225. Part of thememory 230 could include a RAM, and another part of the memory 230 couldinclude a Flash memory or other ROM.

Although FIG. 2 illustrates one example of gNB 102, various changes maybe made to FIG. 2. For example, the gNB 102 could include any number ofeach component shown in FIG. 2. As a particular example, an access pointcould include a number of interfaces 235, and the controller/processor225 could support routing functions to route data between differentnetwork addresses. As another particular example, while shown asincluding a single instance of TX processing circuitry 215 and a singleinstance of RX processing circuitry 220, the gNB 102 could includemultiple instances of each (such as one per RF transceiver). Also,various components in FIG. 2 could be combined, further subdivided, oromitted and additional components could be added according to particularneeds.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example UE 116 according to embodiments of thepresent disclosure. The embodiment of the UE 116 illustrated in FIG. 3is for illustration only, and the UEs 111-115 of FIG. 1 could have thesame or similar configuration. However, UEs come in a wide variety ofconfigurations, and FIG. 3 does not limit the scope of this disclosureto any particular implementation of a UE.

As shown in FIG. 3, the UE 116 includes an antenna 305, a radiofrequency (RF) transceiver 310, TX processing circuitry 315, amicrophone 320, and receive (RX) processing circuitry 325. The UE 116also includes a speaker 330, a processor 340, an input/output (I/O)interface (IF) 345, a touchscreen 350, a display 355, and a memory 360.The memory 360 includes an operating system (OS) 361 and one or moreapplications 362.

The RF transceiver 310 receives, from the antenna 305, an incoming RFsignal transmitted by a gNB of the network 100. The RF transceiver 310down-converts the incoming RF signal to generate an intermediatefrequency (IF) or baseband signal. The IF or baseband signal is sent tothe RX processing circuitry 325, which generates a processed basebandsignal by filtering, decoding, and/or digitizing the baseband or IFsignal. The RX processing circuitry 325 transmits the processed basebandsignal to the speaker 330 (such as for voice data) or to the processor340 for further processing (such as for web browsing data).

In some embodiments, the RF transceiver 310 is capable of receiving aphysical downlink control channel (PDCCH) conveying a downlink controlinformation (DCI) format, a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH)conveying one or more data transport blocks scheduled by the DCI format,and configuration information for transmitting a physical uplink controlchannel (PUCCH) conveying acknowledgement information in response toreceiving the one or more data transport blocks.

In some embodiments, the RF transceiver 310 is capable of transmittingthe PUCCH in time-frequency resources within a first slot. An index ofthe first slot is configured by the DCI format. The time-frequencyresources within the first slot are configured by the DCI format througha configuration of an index of a first slot symbol, a number ofconsecutive slot symbols N_(symbols) ^(slot), and an index of a firstfrequency resource block (RB).

In some embodiments, the RF transceiver 310 is capable of transmittingthe PUCCH in time-frequency resources within a second slot. An index ofa first slot symbol and a number of consecutive slot symbols for thePUCCH reception within the second slot are same as the respective oneswithin the first slot.

In some embodiments, the RF transceiver 310 is capable of transmittingthe PUCCH by transmitting reference signals and acknowledgement signalsin an alternating manner per slot symbol over the number of consecutiveslot symbols.

In some embodiments, the RF transceiver 310 is capable of transmittingthe PUCCH over two different bandwidth parts.

In such embodiments, the number of consecutive slot symbols for thePUCCH transmission in a first bandwidth part is ┌N_(symbols) ^(slot)/2┐where ┌ ┐ is a ceiling function that rounds a number to next largerinteger; and the DCI format jointly indicates the index of the firstfrequency RB in the first bandwidth part and an index of a firstfrequency RB in a second bandwidth part.

In such embodiments, the PUCCH transmission is punctured in the firstslot symbol of the second bandwidth part when a subcarrier spacing forthe PUCCH transmission is larger than or equal to a predetermined value.

In some embodiments, the RF transceiver 310 is capable of receiving aconfiguration information of a cyclic shift for a sequence andtransmitting the sequence with the cyclic shift in at least one slotsymbol from the number of consecutive slot symbols N_(symbols) ^(slot).

In some embodiments, the RF transceiver 310 is capable of receiving aconfiguration information for a code rate and transmitting the PUCCHover a number of consecutive frequency RBs, starting from the firstfrequency RB, and wherein the number of consecutive frequency RBs is asmallest number resulting to an acknowledgement information code ratethat is smaller than or equal to the code rate.

In some embodiments, the RF transceiver 310 is capable of receiving abroadcast channel indicating a maximum number of first slot symbols thatare used for downlink transmissions.

In some embodiments, the RF transceiver 310 is capable of transmittingthe PUCCH with a power determined according to a ratio between apredetermined number of slot symbols and the number of consecutive slotsymbols.

The TX processing circuitry 315 receives analog or digital voice datafrom the microphone 320 or other outgoing baseband data (such as webdata, e-mail, or interactive video game data) from the processor 340.The TX processing circuitry 315 encodes, multiplexes, and/or digitizesthe outgoing baseband data to generate a processed baseband or IFsignal. The RF transceiver 310 receives the outgoing processed basebandor IF signal from the TX processing circuitry 315 and up-converts thebaseband or IF signal to an RF signal that is transmitted via theantenna 305.

The processor 340 can include one or more processors or other processingdevices and execute the OS 361 stored in the memory 360 in order tocontrol the overall operation of the UE 116. For example, the processor340 could control the reception of forward channel signals and thetransmission of reverse channel signals by the RF transceiver 310, theRX processing circuitry 325, and the TX processing circuitry 315 inaccordance with well-known principles. In some embodiments, theprocessor 340 includes at least one microprocessor or microcontroller.

The processor 340 is also capable of executing other processes andprograms resident in the memory 360, such as processes for referencesignal on a downlink channel. The processor 340 can move data into orout of the memory 360 as required by an executing process. In someembodiments, the processor 340 is configured to execute the applications362 based on the OS 361 or in response to signals received from gNBs oran operator. The processor 340 is also coupled to the I/O interface 345,which provides the UE 116 with the ability to connect to other devices,such as laptop computers and handheld computers. The I/O interface 345is the communication path between these accessories and the processor340.

The processor 340 is also coupled to the touchscreen 350 and the display355. The operator of the UE 116 can use the touchscreen 350 to enterdata into the UE 116. The display 355 may be a liquid crystal display,light emitting diode display, or other display capable of rendering textand/or at least limited graphics, such as from web sites.

The memory 360 is coupled to the processor 340. Part of the memory 360could include a random access memory (RAM), and another part of thememory 360 could include a Flash memory or other read-only memory (ROM).

Although FIG. 3 illustrates one example of UE 116, various changes maybe made to FIG. 3. For example, various components in FIG. 3 could becombined, further subdivided, or omitted and additional components couldbe added according to particular needs. As a particular example, theprocessor 340 could be divided into multiple processors, such as one ormore central processing units (CPUs) and one or more graphics processingunits (GPUs). Also, while FIG. 3 illustrates the UE 116 configured as amobile telephone or smartphone, UEs could be configured to operate asother types of mobile or stationary devices.

FIG. 4A is a high-level diagram of transmit path circuitry 400. Forexample, the transmit path circuitry 400 may be used for an orthogonalfrequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication. FIG. 4B is ahigh-level diagram of receive path circuitry 450. For example, thereceive path circuitry 450 may be used for an OFDMA communication. InFIGS. 4A and 4B, for downlink communication, the transmit path circuitry400 may be implemented in a base station (e.g., gNB) 102 or a relaystation, and the receive path circuitry 450 may be implemented in a userequipment (e.g. user equipment 116 of FIG. 1). In other examples, foruplink communication, the receive path circuitry 450 may be implementedin a base station (e.g. gNB 102 of FIG. 1) or a relay station, and thetransmit path circuitry 400 may be implemented in a user equipment (e.g.user equipment 116 of FIG. 1).

Transmit path circuitry 400 comprises channel coding and modulationblock 405, serial-to-parallel (S-to-P) block 410, size N inverse fastFourier transform (IFFT) block 415, parallel-to-serial (P-to-S) block420, add cyclic prefix block 425, and up-converter (UC) 430. Receivepath circuitry 450 comprises down-converter (DC) 455, remove cyclicprefix block 460, serial-to-parallel (S-to-P) block 465, Size n fastFourier transform (FFT) block 470, parallel-to-serial (P-to-S) block475, and channel decoding and demodulation block 480.

At least some of the components in FIGS. 4A and 4B may be implemented insoftware, while other components may be implemented by configurablehardware or a mixture of software and configurable hardware. Inparticular, it is noted that the FFT blocks and the IFFT blocksdescribed in this disclosure document may be implemented as configurablesoftware algorithms, where the value of size N may be modified accordingto the implementation.

Furthermore, although this disclosure is directed to an embodiment thatimplements the fast Fourier transform and the inverse fast Fouriertransform, this is by way of illustration only and should not beconstrued to limit the scope of the disclosure. It may be appreciatedthat in an alternate embodiment of the disclosure, the Fast FourierTransform functions and the Inverse Fast Fourier Transform functions mayeasily be replaced by discrete Fourier transform (DFT) functions andinverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT) functions, respectively. Itmay be appreciated that for DFT and IDFT functions, the value of the Nvariable may be any integer number (i.e., 1, 4, 3, 4, etc.), while forFFT and IFFT functions, the value of the N variable may be any integernumber that is a power of two (i.e., 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, etc.).

In transmit path circuitry 400, channel coding and modulation block 405receives a set of information bits, applies coding (e.g., LDPC coding)and modulates (e.g., quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) or quadratureamplitude modulation (QAM)) the input bits to produce a sequence offrequency-domain modulation symbols. Serial-to-parallel block 410converts (i.e., de-multiplexes) the serial modulated symbols to paralleldata to produce N parallel symbol streams where N is the IFFT/FFT sizeused in BS 102 and UE 116. Size N IFFT block 415 then performs an IFFToperation on the N parallel symbol streams to produce time-domain outputsignals. Parallel-to-serial block 420 converts (i.e., multiplexes) theparallel time-domain output symbols from Size N IFFT block 415 toproduce a serial time-domain signal. Add cyclic prefix block 425 theninserts a cyclic prefix to the time-domain signal. Finally, up-converter430 modulates (i.e., up-converts) the output of add cyclic prefix block425 to RF frequency for transmission via a wireless channel. The signalmay also be filtered at baseband before conversion to RF frequency.

The transmitted RF signal arrives at UE 116 after passing through thewireless channel, and reverse operations to those at gNB 102 areperformed. Down-converter 455 down-converts the received signal tobaseband frequency, and remove cyclic prefix block 460 removes thecyclic prefix to produce the serial time-domain baseband signal.Serial-to-parallel block 465 converts the time-domain baseband signal toparallel time-domain signals. Size N FFT block 470 then performs an FFTalgorithm to produce N parallel frequency-domain signals.Parallel-to-serial block 475 converts the parallel frequency-domainsignals to a sequence of modulated data symbols. Channel decoding anddemodulation block 480 demodulates and then decodes the modulatedsymbols to recover the original input data stream.

Each of gNBs 101-103 may implement a transmit path that is analogous totransmitting in the downlink to user equipment 111-116 and may implementa receive path that is analogous to receiving in the uplink from userequipment 111-116. Similarly, each one of user equipment 111-116 mayimplement a transmit path corresponding to the architecture fortransmitting in the uplink to gNBs 101-103 and may implement a receivepath corresponding to the architecture for receiving in the downlinkfrom gNBs 101-103.

DL transmissions or UL transmissions can be based on an OFDM waveformincluding a variant using DFT precoding that is known as DFT-spread-OFDMthat is typically applicable to UL transmissions.

A reference time unit for DL signaling or for UL signaling on a cell isreferred to as a slot and can include one or more slot symbols. Abandwidth (BW) unit is referred to as a resource block (RB). One RBincludes a number of sub-carriers (SCs). For example, a slot can haveduration of half millisecond or of one millisecond, include 7 symbols or14 symbols, respectively, and a RB can have a BW of 180 KHz and include12 SCs with inter-SC spacing of 15 KHz. A BW reception capability or aBW transmission capability for a UE can be smaller than a DL system BWor an UL system BW, respectively, and different UEs can be configured DLreceptions or UL transmissions in different parts of a DL system BW orof an UL system BW, respectively, per slot. A slot can be a full DLslot, or a full UL slot, or a hybrid slot that includes both symbols forDL transmissions and symbols for UL transmissions, similar to a specialsubframe in time division duplex (TDD) systems.

DL signals include data signals conveying information content, controlsignals conveying DL control information (DCI), and reference signals(RS) that are also known as pilot signals. A gNB transmits datainformation or DCI through respective physical DL shared channels(PDSCHs) or physical DL control channels (PDCCHs). A gNB transmits oneor more of multiple types of RS including channel state information RS(CSI-RS) and demodulation RS (DMRS). A CSI-RS is intended for UEs toperform measurements and provide channel state information (CSI) to agNB. A DMRS is typically transmitted only in a BW of a respective PDCCHor PDSCH and a UE can use the DMRS to demodulate DCI or datainformation. A DL DMRS or CSI-RS can be constructed by a Zadoff-Chu (ZC)sequence or a pseudo-noise (PN) sequence.

For channel measurement, non-zero power CSI-RS (NZP CSI-RS) resourcesare used. For interference measurement reports (INRs), CSI interferencemeasurement (CSI-IM) resources associated with a zero power CSI-RS (ZPCSI-RS) configuration are used. A CSI process including NZP CSI-RS andCSI-IM resources. A UE can determine CSI-RS transmission parametersthrough higher layer signaling, such as radio resource control (RRC)signaling from a gNB. Transmission instances and resources of a CSI-RScan be indicated by DL control signaling or configured by higher layersignaling. A DMRS is transmitted only in the BW of a respective PDCCH orPDSCH and a UE can use the DMRS to demodulate data or controlinformation.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example DL slot structure 500 for transmission orPDCCH transmission according to embodiments of the present disclosure.An embodiment of the DL slot structure 500 for transmission or PDCCHtransmission shown in FIG. 5 is for illustration only. Other embodimentsmay be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

A slot 510 includes N_(symb) ^(DL) symbols 520 where a gNB transmitsdata information, DCI, or

DMRS. A DL system BW includes N_(RB) ^(DL) RBs. Each RB includes N_(sc)^(RB) SCs. For example, N_(sc) ^(RB)=12. A UE is assigned M_(PDSCH) RBsfor a total of M_(sc) ^(PDSCH)=M_(PDSCH)·N_(sc) ^(RB) SCs 530 for aPDSCH transmission BW. A first slot symbol 540 can be used by the gNB totransmit DCI and DMRS. A second slot symbol 550 can be used by the gNBto transmit DCI, DMRS, or data information. Remaining slot symbols 560can be used by the gNB to transmit data information, DMRS, and possiblyCSI-RS. In some slots, the gNB can also transmit synchronization signalsand system information.

UL signals also include data signals conveying information content,control signals conveying UL control information (UCI), DMRS associatedwith data or UCI demodulation, sounding RS (SRS) enabling a gNB toperform UL channel measurement, and a random access (RA) preambleenabling a UE to perform random access. A UE transmits data informationor UCI through a respective physical UL shared channel (PUSCH) or aphysical UL control channel (PUCCH). When a UE simultaneously transmitsdata information and UCI, the UE can multiplex both in a PUSCH. UCIincludes hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK)information, indicating correct or incorrect detection of data transportblocks (TBs) in a PDSCH, scheduling request (SR) indicating whether a UEhas data in the UE's buffer, and CSI reports enabling a gNB to selectappropriate parameters for PDSCH or PDCCH transmissions to a UE.

A CSI report from a UE can include a channel quality indicator (CQI)informing a gNB of a largest modulation and coding scheme (MCS) for theUE to detect a data TB with a predetermined block error rate (BLER),such as a 10% BLER, of a precoding matrix indicator (PMI) informing agNB how to combine signals from multiple transmitter antennas inaccordance with a MIMO transmission principle, and of a rank indicator(RI) indicating a transmission rank for a PDSCH. UL RS includes DMRS andSRS. DMRS is transmitted only in a BW of a respective PUSCH or PUCCHtransmission. A DMRS or an SRS can be represented by a ZC sequence or aCG sequence. A cyclic shift (CS) associated with a ZC sequence or a GCsequence can hop in time. For example, a gNB can explicitly orimplicitly indicate to a UE a CS for a GC sequence that is applicablefor a first DMRS transmission in a PUSCH or a PUCCH and the UE candetermine a CS for subsequent DMRS transmissions in the PUSCH or thePUCCH based on a predefined CS hopping pattern. A gNB can use a DMRS todemodulate information in a respective PUSCH or PUCCH. SRS istransmitted by a UE to provide a gNB with an UL CSI and, for a TDDsystem, a SRS transmission can also provide a PMI for DL transmission.Additionally, in order to establish synchronization or an initial RRCconnection with a gNB, a UE can transmit a physical random accesschannel.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example UL slot structure 600 for PUSCHtransmission or PUCCH transmission according to embodiments of thepresent disclosure. An embodiment of the UL slot structure 600 for PUSCHtransmission or PUCCH transmission shown in FIG. 6 is for illustrationonly. Other embodiments may be used without departing from the scope ofthe present disclosure.

A slot 610 includes N_(symb) ^(UL) symbols 620 where a UE transmits datainformation, UCI, or RS including at least one symbol where the UEtransmits DMRS 630. An UL system BW includes N_(RB) ^(UL) RBs. Each RBincludes N_(sc) ^(RB) SCs. A UE is assigned M_(PUXCH) RBs for a total ofM_(sc) ^(PUXCH)=M_(PUXCH)·N_(sc) ^(RB) SCs 640 for a PUSCH transmissionBW (“X”=“S”) or for a PUCCH transmission BW (“X”=“C”). One or more lastslot symbols can be used to multiplex SRS transmissions 650 (or PUCCHtransmissions) from one or more UEs. A number of UL slot symbolsavailable for data/UCl/DMRS transmission is N_(symb)^(PUXCH)=2·(N_(symb) ^(UL)−1)−N_(SRS). N_(SRS)>0 when N_(SRS) last slotsymbols are used SRS transmissions (or PUCCH transmissions) from UEsthat overlap at least partially in BW with a PUXCH transmission BW;otherwise, N_(SRS)=0. Therefore, a number of total SCs for a PUXCHtransmission is M_(sc) ^(PUXCH)·N_(symb) ^(PUXCH). PUCCH transmissionand PUSCH transmission can also occur in a same slot; for example, a UEcan transmit PUSCH in earlier slot symbols and PUCCH in later slotsymbols.

A hybrid slot includes a DL transmission region, a guard period region,and an UL transmission region, similar to a special subframe in LTE. Forexample, a DL transmission region can contain PDCCH and PDSCHtransmissions and an UL transmission region can contain PUCCHtransmissions. For example, a DL transmission region can contain PDCCHtransmissions and an UL transmission region can contain PUSCH and PUCCHtransmissions.

A PDCCH transmission can be over a number of control channel elements(CCEs). A UE typically performs multiple PDCCH decoding operations todetect DCI formats in a TTI. The UE determines locations of CCEs for aPDCCH reception (PDCCH candidate) according to a search space functionfor a corresponding CCE aggregation level. A DCI format includes cyclicredundancy check (CRC) bits in order for the UE to confirm a correctdetection of the DCI format. A DCI format type is identified by a radionetwork temporary identifier (RNTI) that scrambles the CRC.

In the following, a DCI format scheduling a PDSCH transmission to a UEis referred to as DL DCI format or DL assignment while a DCI formatscheduling a PUSCH transmission from a UE is referred to as UL DCIformat or UL grant.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example encoding process 700 for a DCI formataccording to embodiments of the present disclosure. An embodiment of theencoding process 700 for a DCI format shown in FIG. 7 is forillustration only. Other embodiments may be used without departing fromthe scope of the present disclosure.

A gNB separately encodes, for example using a polar code or atail-biting convolutional code (TBCC), and transmits each DCI format ina respective PDCCH. When applicable, a RNTI for a UE that a DCI formatis intended for masks a CRC of the DCI format codeword in order toenable the UE to identify the DCI format. For example, the CRC and theRNTI can include 16 bits. Otherwise, when a RNTI is not included in aDCI format, a DCI format type indicator field can be included in the DCIformat. The CRC of (non-coded) DCI format bits 710 is determined using aCRC computation unit 720, and the CRC is masked using an exclusive OR(XOR) operation unit 730 between CRC bits and RNTI bits 740. The XORoperation is defined as XOR(0,0)=0, XOR(0,1)=1, XOR(1,0)=1, XOR(1,1)=0.The masked CRC bits are appended to DCI format information bits using aCRC append unit 750. An encoder 760 performs channel coding (such astail-biting convolutional coding or polar coding), followed by ratematching to allocated resources by rate matcher 770. Interleaving andmodulation units 780 apply interleaving and modulation, such as QPSK,and the output control signal 790 is transmitted.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example decoding process 800 for a DCI format foruse with a UE according to embodiments of the present disclosure. Anembodiment of the decoding process 800 for a DCI format for use with aUE shown in FIG. 8 is for illustration only. Other embodiments may beused without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

A received control signal 810 is demodulated and de-interleaved by ademodulator and a de-interleaver 820. A rate matching applied at a gNBtransmitter is restored by rate matcher 830, and resulting bits aredecoded by decoder 840. After decoding, a CRC extractor 850 extracts CRCbits and provides DCI format information bits 860. The DCI formatinformation bits are de-masked 870 by an XOR operation with a RNTI 880(when applicable) and a CRC check is performed by unit 890. When the CRCcheck succeeds (check-sum is zero), the DCI format information bits areconsidered to be valid. When the CRC check does not succeed, the DCIformat information bits are considered to be invalid.

A PUCCH can be transmitted according to one from multiple PUCCH formatsas described in LTE specification. A PUCCH format corresponds to astructure that is designed for a particular UCI payload range asdifferent UCI payloads require different PUCCH transmission structuresto improve an associated UCI BLER. For example, as described in LTEspecification, PUCCH Format 1/1a/1b can be used for transmission ofSR/HARQ-ACK payloads of 1 bit or 2 bits, PUCCH Format 3 can be used fortransmission of HARQ-ACK/CSI/SR payloads from 2 bits to 22 bits, andPUCCH Format 4 or 5 can be used for transmission of HARQ-ACK/CSI/SRpayloads above 22 bits. For PUCCH Format 3, 4, or 5, a gNB configures aUE with a set of RBs for PUCCH transmission and a DCI format schedulinga PDSCH transmission to the UE provides an index to the set of RBs forthe UE to determine the RBs for the PUCCH transmission. For PUCCH Format3 or 4, each element in the set of RBs includes one RB. For PUCCH Format4, each element in the set of RBs can include one or more RBs.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example PUCCH Format 3 structure 900 according toembodiments of the present disclosure. An embodiment of the PUCCH Format3 structure 900 shown in FIG. 9 is for illustration only. Otherembodiments may be used without departing from the scope of the presentdisclosure.

After encoding and modulation using respectively, for example, a (32,O_(HARQ-ACK)) Reed-Muller (RM) code punctured to a (24, O_(HARQ-ACK)) RMcode and quaternary phase shift keying (QPSK) modulation (not shown forbrevity), a set of same HARQ-ACK bits 910 is multiplied 920 withelements of an orthogonal covering code (OCC) 930 and is subsequentlyDFT precoded 940. For example, for 5 symbols carrying HARQ-ACK bits, theOCC has length 5 {OCC(0), OCC(1), OCC(2), OCC(3), OCC(4)} and can beeither of {1, 1, 1, 1, 1}, or {1, exp(j2π/5), exp(j4π/5), exp(j6π/5),exp(j8π/5)}, or {1, exp(j4π/5), exp(j8π/5), exp(j2π/5), exp(j6π/5)}, or{1, exp(j6π/5), exp(j2π/5), exp(j8π/5), exp(j4π/5)}, or {1, exp(j8π/5),exp(j6π/5), exp(j4π/5), exp(j2π/5)}. The output is passed through anIFFT filter 950 and the output is then mapped to a DFT-S-OFDM symbol960.

As the previous operations are linear, their relative order can beinter-changed. As a PUCCH is transmitted in one RB, 24 encoded HARQ-ACKbits can be transmitted in each slot and the 24 encoded HARQ-ACK bitsare mapped to 12 QPSK symbols. In addition to HARQ-ACK signals, RS aretransmitted in each slot to enable coherent demodulation of HARQ-ACKsignals. A RS is constructed from a length-12 Constant Amplitude zeroauto-correlation (CAZAC) sequence 970, such as a Zadoff-Chu (ZC)sequence or a computer generated (CG) sequence, which is passed throughan IFFT 980 and mapped to another symbol 990. Multiplexing of RS fromdifferent UEs is achieved by using different cyclic shifts (CS) of asame ZC sequence. Code division multiplexing (CDM) is therefore throughdifferent OCCs across symbols and through different cyclic shifts of aZC sequence or a CG sequence.

A PUCCH transmission power from a UE is set with an objective to achievea reliability target for associated data by achieving a respectivetarget received SINR at a serving cell of a gNB while controllinginterference to neighboring cells. UL power control (PC) includesopen-loop PC (OLPC) with cell-specific and UE-specific parameters andclosed-loop PC (CLPC) corrections provided to a UE by a gNB throughtransmission PC (TPC) commands in respective DCI formats.

A power control formula for a UE to determine UE a PUCCH transmissionpower P_(PUSCH,c)(i), in decibels per milliwatt (dBm), in cell c andslot i, can depend on a respective PUCCH format. For any of PUCCHformats 1/1a/1b/2a/2b/3, a UE can determine a transmission power as inequation 1 as shown:

$\begin{matrix}{{P_{PUCCH}(i)} = {\min{\begin{Bmatrix}{{P_{{CMAX},c}(i)},} \\{P_{0{\_ PUCCH}} + {PL}_{c} + {h\left( {n_{CQI},n_{HARQ},n_{SR}} \right)} +} \\{{\Delta_{F\_ PUCCH}(F)} + {\Delta_{TxD}\left( F^{\prime} \right)} + {g(i)}}\end{Bmatrix}\mspace{11mu}\lbrack{dBm}\rbrack}}} & {{Equation}\mspace{14mu}(1)}\end{matrix}$

For PUCCH format 4/5, a UE can determine a transmission power as inequation 2 as shown:

$\begin{matrix}{{P_{PUCCH}(i)} = {\min{\begin{Bmatrix}{{P_{{CMAX},c}(i)},} \\{P_{0{\_ PUCCH}} + {PL}_{c} + {10\;{\log_{10}\left( {M_{{PUCCH},c}(i)} \right)}} +} \\{{\Delta_{{TF},c}(i)} + {\Delta_{F\_ PUCCH}(F)} + {g(i)}}\end{Bmatrix}\mspace{11mu}\lbrack{dBm}\rbrack}}} & {{Equation}\mspace{14mu}(2)}\end{matrix}$

When a UE does not transmit a PUCCH, for the accumulation of TPC commandfor PUCCH, the UE assumes that a PUCCH transmit power P_(PUCCH) iscomputed as in equation 3.

P _(PUCCH)(i)=min{P _(CMAX,c)(i), P _(0_PUCCH) +PL _(c) +g(i)}[dBm]  (3)

The parameters in equation 1, equation 2, and equation 3 are asdescribed in LTE specification and only an outline is described belowfor brevity: P_(CMAX,c)(i) is a maximum UE transmission power in cell cand slot i; P_(O_PUCCH,c) is a sum of a cell-specific parameterP_(O_NOMINAL_PUCCH,c) and a UE-specific parameter P_(O_UE_PUCCH,c) thatare provided to a UE by higher layer signaling; PL_(c) is a path loss(PL) estimate computed by the UE for cell c; h(·)is a function withvalues depending on a format used for the PUCCH transmission and onwhether HARQ-ACK, SR, or CSI is transmitted; Δ_(F_PUCCH)(F) is providedto the UE by higher layers and the value of Δ_(F_PUCCH)(F) depends on arespective PUCCH format (F); Δ_(T×D)(F′) is non-zero if a PUCCH formatF′ is transmitted from two antenna ports; M_(PUCCH,c)(i) is a PUCCHtransmission BW in RBs in cell c and slot i; Δ_(TF,c)(i) is determinedby a spectral efficiency of a PUCCH transmission;g(i)=g(i−1)+δ_(PUCCH)(i) is a function accumulating a TPC commandδ_(PUCCH)(i) in a DCI Format 3/3A or in a DCI format scheduling PDSCHreception and g(0) is a value after reset of accumulation.

One important characteristic of so-called 5G networks is the support ofservices having materially different characteristics such as in a targetlatency or reliability or in an operating carrier frequency. Forexample, services requiring low latency can be associated withtransmission of small data TBs that can support a fast decoding time andHARQ-ACK transmission in a last symbol of a slot. For example, operationin high carrier frequencies, such as in millimeter wave bands, can beassociated with large transmission BWs and PUCCH transmissions over alarge BW and in only one symbol of a slot.

A PUCCH transmitted over only one or two symbols of a slot is referredto PUCCH with short duration or simply as short PUCCH. Conversely,mobile broadband (MBB) applications are typically associated withcellular carrier frequencies below 6 GHz, support of large data TBs, andrequirements for coverage over large cell sizes necessitating PUCCHtransmissions over substantially all symbols of an UL part of a slot. APUCCH transmitted over substantially all symbols of a slot that areavailable for UL transmissions is referred to PUCCH with long durationor simply as long PUCCH.

Although supporting PUCCH transmissions over an UL slot can followexisting principles, new designs are required for the PUCCH structuresin case of a hybrid slot due to a variability in a number of availablesymbols for the PUCCH transmission. This variability can be due toseveral factors including whether or not a slot is a full UL slot or ahybrid slot or whether or not some slot symbols are used for othertransmissions, such as PUCCH transmissions having a short duration, SRS,or PRACH. For a hybrid slot, this variability is also due to a variablenumber of slot symbols used for DL transmissions such as for DL controlchannels or due to a variable GP duration. The GP duration, in number ofslot symbols, can be semi-statically determined and informed, forexample, by system information or be dynamically indicated to a UE.

New designs are also required for determining a PUCCH transmission powerthat incorporates variability in a number of slot symbols that areavailable for the PUCCH transmission. Further, as a UCI size mayincrease, due to support of BMI or HARQ-ACK per code block, instead oftransport block, a number of resources required for respective PUCCHtransmissions can also increase and means to reduce respective overheadneed to be consider in order to avoid reductions in an UL systemthroughput.

Another important characteristic of so-called 5G networks is a reductionof periodic signaling in order to dynamically enable multiplexing ofdifferent services in time and dynamic network adaptation to varioustypes of traffic. This poses a challenge for the support of somefunctionalities that rely on predetermined resource availability forperiodic transmissions including a capability for UEs to requestscheduling through transmissions of respective SRs to a gNB.

As a UE cannot be assumed to always know a slot structure for a PUCCHtransmission, corresponding information needs to be provided by a DCIformat triggering to the UE the PUCCH transmission in the slot.Moreover, for improving a multiplexing efficiency for PUCCHtransmissions from different UEs, a gNB can further indicate to a UEwhether duration for a PUCCH transmission from the UE may be a short oneor a long one. Also, as a number of slot symbols available for a PUCCHtransmission in a slot can take many values, it can be beneficial for agNB or a UE complexity to limit a number of possible structures for along PUCCH transmission. Therefore, there is a need to define long PUCCHstructures for multiple numbers of available symbols for a long PUCCHtransmission.

There is another need for indicating duration or a format for a PUCCH bya DCI format triggering the PUCCH transmission.

There is another need to increase a multiplexing capacity of PUCCHtransmissions over one or multiple RBs.

There is another need to determine a power for transmitted PUCCHtransmission over a variable number of symbols.

For brevity, a PUCCH having a long duration is referred to as long PUCCHand a PUCCH having a short duration is referred to as short PUCCH.

In some embodiments, transmission of a long PUCCH is considered when anumber of slot symbols available for the long PUCCH transmission can bevariable.

In one example, a long PUCCH is transmitted until a last symbol of an ULslot or of a hybrid slot and duration variability only occurs at thebeginning of a slot. An associated requirement for consecutivetransmission of a long PUCCH from a given symbol in a slot until a lastsymbol of the slot is that transmissions of short PUCCH, or SRS, orPRACH are not configured to occur in frequency resources (RBs) used forthe transmission of the long PUCCH. This requirement can be achievedeither by implementation, where a gNB scheduler selects non-overlappingfrequency resources for long PUCCH transmissions and other ULtransmissions, or by explicit configuration where non-overlappingfrequency resources are indicated, either by system information or by aDCI format triggering a long PUCCH transmission or by a combination, forlong PUCCH transmissions and for the other UL transmissions. Forexample, a DCI format that a UE detects and, in response to thedetection, the UE transmits a long PUCCH in a slot, can include a fieldindicating a slot and a first symbol and a number of symbols in the slotthat the UE can assume as being available for the PUCCH transmission.For example, the field can include 2 bits mapping to possible values of14, 7, 4, or 2 symbols available for the PUCCH transmission. Therefore,a dynamic indication of the number of symbols for a PUCCH transmissioncan also implicitly indicate use of a short PUCCH or a long PUCCH formatfor a given UCI payload. For PUCCH transmissions configured by higherlayer signaling, the higher layer signaling configures the PUCCHtransmission resources including one or more RBs, a first symbol and aduration.

Instead of having separate fields to indicate frequency resources(sub-carriers) and time resources (slot symbols) for a long PUCCHtransmission, a DCI format can include a single field that jointlyindicates frequency and time resources for the long PUCCH transmission.Depending on a structure for a long PUCCH, the frequency resources cancorrespond to one or more RBs or can correspond to an RB and a number ofsub-carriers within or starting from the RB. For example, the frequencyresources can correspond to a group of first six sub-carriers or a groupof last six sub-carriers in a RB of twelve sub-carriers. Availablefrequency resources can be configured by higher layer signaling to a UE,in terms of an RB index and a number of RBs that can be consecutive infrequency, and a field in a DCI format can indicate one frequencyresource from the configured set of frequency resources. When a longPUCCH is transmitted with frequency hopping over a first frequencyresource and a second frequency resource, higher layer signaling canconfigure a first RB index and a second RB index for the first frequencyresource and for the second frequency resource, respectively, or the UEcan determine the second frequency resource from the first frequencyresource, for example the second RB index can be equal to a largest RBindex in a system BW for the UE minus the first RB index.

In case of a full UL slot, a long PUCCH can be transmitted from a firstsymbol of the full UL slot. In case of a hybrid slot, a first symbol fora long PUCCH transmission can depend on a number of slot symbols usedfor DL transmissions, such as for example for DL control channels andvarious DL RS, and on a number of slot symbols used for a GP. Forexample, a number of first symbols in a hybrid slot that can beunavailable for a long PUCCH transmission can range from 2 (in case of 1slot symbol for DL control and 1 slot symbol for GP) to substantiallythe whole slot except for a few symbols at the end of the slot (in caseof several slot symbols used for DL transmissions and a large number ofGP symbols).

In one example, for transmission of a long PUCCH in a hybrid slot, a UEassumes that a maximum number of slot symbols are used for transmissionsof DL control channels. This maximum number can be predetermined in asystem operation for a system BW associated with a hybrid slot or can beconfigured to a UE by a gNB using UE-common RRC signaling, such as amaster information block or a system information block, or byUE-specific RRC signaling. A UE can then determine a total number ofavailable symbols per hybrid slot for transmission of a long PUCCH basedon a total of a number of slot symbols used for DL transmissions and anumber of slot symbols used for GP. In a second example, a UE determinesa number of slot symbols used for transmissions of DL control channelsin a slot from DL control signaling in the slot that includes anindication for the number of slot symbols used for transmissions of DLcontrol channels in the slot and can also include additionalinformation. In a third example, the slot structure is informed to a UEby a DCI format or by higher layer signaling that configures a longPUCCH transmission.

To enable a gNB to efficiently utilize resources allocated to long PUCCHtransmissions and short PUCCH transmissions, a DCI format scheduling atransmission of a DL data channel that is associated with a transmissionof corresponding HARQ-ACK information (or, in general, UCI) in a PUCCHcan include a field indicating whether the UE shall transmit a longPUCCH or a short PUCCH. For example, when only a few UEs transmit PUCCHsin a slot and all UEs can use a long PUCCH or a short PUCCH, it can bedisadvantageous for UL spectral efficiency to use both resources forlong PUCCH transmissions and resources for short PUCCH transmissions. Toenable dynamic indication to a UE for a PUCCH transmission duration(short or long), a DCI format scheduling an associated PDSCHtransmission to the UE can indicate the PUCCH transmission duration(short PUCCH or long PUCCH), for example through a 1-bit field. Further,when two different PUCCH structures (formats), either for long PUCCH orfor short PUCCH, can be used to convey a HARQ-ACK payload, the DCIformat can also indicate the PUCCH format, for example through a 1-bitfield. The fields indicating to a UE whether the UE shall use a shortPUCCH or a long PUCCH and a respective PUCCH format can be separatefields or can be provided by a field indicating a general resourceconfiguration that can also indicate a first symbol, a number ofsymbols, or a set of one or more RBs for a PUCCH transmission. When a UEtransmits HARQ-ACK information in response to the UE detecting a numberof DCI formats, the UE can determine a PUCCH transmission duration(short or long) and a PUCCH format for the HARQ-ACK transmission basedon the indication by respective fields in at least a last of the numberof DCI formats.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example process 1000 for a UE according toembodiments of the present disclosure. An embodiment of the process 1000shown in FIG. 10 is for illustration only. Other embodiments may be usedwithout departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

A UE detects DCI formats scheduling respective PDSCH transmissions tothe UE 1010. The DCI formats include a PUCCH transmission duration fieldor a PUCCH format field. The DCI formats can be received in differentslots of a same cell, or in a same slot in different cells, or both. TheDCI formats include a field indicating a slot where a UE is expected totransmit a PUCCH conveying UCI, such as HARQ-ACK information, inresponse to the detection of the DCI formats. Based on the detected DCIformats and associated fields indicating a slot for HARQ-ACKtransmission in response to the detection of the DCI formats, the UEdetermines an HARQ-ACK payload and a slot for a transmission of a PUCCHconveying the HARQ-ACK information 1020. The DCI formats also convey a“PUCCH duration” field, for example as part of a configuration indicatedby a resource indication field, indicating duration for the PUCCHtransmission (short PUCCH or long PUCCH). The UE examines whether the“PUCCH duration” field has a binary value of 1 (or 0) 1030.

When the “PUCCH duration” field has a binary value of 1, the UE uses along PUCCH to transmit the HARQ-ACK information 1040; otherwise, whenthe “PUCCH duration” field has a binary value of 0, the UE uses a shortPUCCH to transmit the HARQ-ACK information 1050. The DCI formats canalso convey a “PUCCH format” field indicating a format for the PUCCH.The UE examines whether the “PUCCH format” field has a binary value of 1(or 0) 1060. When the “PUCCH format” field has a binary value of 1, theUE uses a first PUCCH format to transmit the HARQ-ACK information 1070;otherwise, when the “PUCCH Format” field has a binary value of 0, the UEuses a second PUCCH format to transmit the HARQ-ACK information 1080.

For a PUCCH conveying small HARQ-ACK payloads, CDM of transmissions fromUEs in same time-frequency resources can be used to reduce an overheadassociated with such PUCCHs. This is a similar principle to the CDM usedfor PUCCH Formats 1/1a/1b and PUCCH Format 3 in LTE. However, when anumber of slot symbols that is available for PUCCH transmission isvariable, associated structures enabling CDM in the time domain forPUCCH transmissions from different UEs need to also be variable toreflect the variable number of symbols. To avoid variable multiplexingcapacity per slot, particularly when a long PUCCH transmission can spanmultiple slots, CDM in the time domain can also be disabled. Then, UEmultiplexing can be limited to CDM in the frequency domain either bycyclic shifts when both DMRS and UCI transmissions are through CAZACsequences for example as for PUCCH formats 1/1a/1b/2 in LTE or by OCC inthe frequency domain for example as for PUCCH format 5 in LTE.

It is also possible, at least for multi-slot PUCCH transmission when itis over a different number of symbols in different slots, for a numberof available OCCs to be predetermined in a system operation or beindicated by a gNB to a UE, for example by higher layer signaling, andbe same for all possible numbers of symbols per slot for a PUCCHtransmission. The UE can determine an OCC pair to apply to respectiveDMRS and UCI transmissions of the PUCCH from the number of OCCsregardless of an actual number of symbols the UE uses for DMRStransmission or for UCI transmission in a slot. The OCC used for DMRStransmission or for UCI transmission can be determined according to anumber of symbols for a respective transmission but the number of OCCsis not determined according to a number of symbols for the respectivetransmission and does not increase as the number of symbols increases.For example, for a PUCCH transmission spanning multiple slots, absenceof frequency hopping within a slot, and a minimum of 4 symbols availablefor PUCCH transmission in a slot where 2 symbols are used for DMRStransmission and 2 symbols are used for UCI transmission, a UE canassume that 2 OCCs are available even when a number of symbols availablefor DMRS transmissions and for UCI transmissions in the slot is largerthan 2 and a number of OCCs larger than 2 exists.

For example, a UE can assume that only the first 2 OCCs are availablefor the DMRS transmission and for the UCI transmission of the PUCCH.This can result to a reduced UE multiplexing capacity per RB for PUCCHtransmissions, due to limiting a number of used OCCs to be smaller thana number of available OCCs corresponding to a number of symbols for DMRStransmission or UCI transmission in a same set of one or more RBs, butcan ensure than a UE does not need to use different RBs to transmitPUCCH in different slots of a multi-slot PUCCH transmission.

For a given long PUCCH format, a UE can determine a correspondingstructure in a slot based on a determination of a number of symbolsavailable for transmission of a respective PUCCH in the slot. To reducea size of a resource set that includes the possible numbers of slotsymbols that can be available for long PUCCH transmissions in a slot,certain numbers can be excluded and then a structure corresponding to anext smaller number can be used. For example, possible structures for along PUCCH format can be limited to ones corresponding to an even numberof available symbols in a slot and can be further limited to notsupporting numbers below a predetermined number such as 4. For example,possible structures for a long PUCCH format can be limited to onescorresponding to 14, 7, and 4 available symbols in a slot asapproximately differ by a power of 2 and represent a constant increase(or decrease) in dB (about 3 dB). For example, when a number of symbolsavailable for transmission of a long PUCCH in a slot is 9, a structurecorresponding to 7 available symbols is used for the long PUCCHtransmission.

FIG. 11 illustrates another example process 1100 for a UE according toembodiments of the present disclosure. An embodiment of the process 1100shown in FIG. 11 is for illustration only. Other embodiments may be usedwithout departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

A UE determines a number of available symbols (first symbol andduration) for a long PUCCH transmission in a slot and a PUCCH format1110. The UE examines whether there is a supported structure for thelong PUCCH format for the number of available symbols 1120. When thereis not, the UE sets the number of available symbols to next smallernumber of symbols with a supported structure for the long PUCCH format1130. The UE subsequently determines a structure for the long PUCCHformat based on number of available symbols 1140. The UE transmits thelong PUCCH format using the determined structure 1150.

Exemplary structures for a long PUCCH using a format based on PUCCHFormat 1/1a/1b or based on PUCCH Format 3 of LTE are subsequentlyconsidered.

For a long PUCCH using CDM for transmissions from multiple UEs in samefrequency resources over a same number of slot symbols, a variable OCClength is required to multiplex UCI and DMRS transmissions. For example,in case of frequency hopping, when a full UL slot of 14 symbols is usedfor transmissions of a long PUCCH, UCI and DMRS can be multiplexed per 7symbols in two parts of an UL BW. When a hybrid slot of 12 symbols isused for transmissions of a long PUCCH, UCI and DMRS can be multiplexedper 6 symbols in two parts of an UL BW but a different OCC length isneeded either for the UCI transmission or for the DMRS transmission.

Similar, when a hybrid slot of 8 symbols is used for long PUCCHtransmissions, UCI and DMRS can be multiplexed per 4 symbols in twoparts of an UL BW but a different OCC length is needed either for theUCI transmission or for the DMRS transmission. A smallest duration for atransmission of a long PUCCH can be two symbols that include one symbolfor DMRS transmission and one symbol for UCI transmission in case of nofrequency hopping (the long PUCCH is then same as a short PUCCH) or foursymbols that include one pair of {DMRS, UCI} symbols for transmission ina first part of a system BW and a second pair of {DMRS, UCI} symbols fortransmission in a second part of a system BW.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example first six symbols for a long, PUCCHformat transmission 1200 according to embodiments of the presentdisclosure. An embodiment of the first six symbols for a long PUCCHformat transmission 1200 shown in FIG. 12 is for illustration only.Other embodiments may be used without departing from the scope of thepresent disclosure.

HARQ-ACK bits 1210 modulate 1220 a sequence 1230, such as a ZC sequence,an output is subsequently multiplied 1240 by an element 1250, 1252, and1054 of a first length 3 OCC, such as {1, 1, 1}, or {1, exp(j2π/3),exp(j4π/3)}, or {1, exp(j4π/3), exp(j2π/3)}, respective outputs arefiltered by an inverse fast Fourier transforms (IFFT), such as IFFT1260, and transmitted in respective symbols that are symbol 0 1270,symbol 2 1272, and symbol 4 1074. A ZC sequence is also multiplied by anelement 1251, 1253, and 1255 of a second length 3 OCC, respectiveoutputs are filtered by an IFFT and transmitted in respective symbolsthat are symbol 1 1271, symbol 3 1273, and symbol 5 1275 to serve as RS.The first OCC can be same as the second OCC.

The location of symbols used to convey HARQ-ACK information and thelocation of symbols used to convey RS can be exchanged, that is, symbols0, 2 and 4 can be used to convey RS and symbols 1, 3, and 5 can be usedto convey HARQ-ACK information. Placing a symbol used for RStransmission prior to a symbol used for HARQ-ACK informationtransmission can enable earlier channel estimation and somewhat decreasea time required for a gNB receiver to detect the HARQ-ACK information.The transmission in the second six symbols can have a same structure asfor the first six symbols and occur at a different part of an UL systemBW.

An advantage of the structure in FIG. 12 is that by interlacing symbolsused for HARQ-ACK transmission and symbols used for RS transmission, achannel variation can be fully captured. Moreover, the structure isscalable as a similar structure can apply in case of 10 totaltransmission symbols of 8 total transmission symbols by removing thelast one symbol or the last two symbols from the structure in FIG. 12.For an odd number of symbols for transmission in one part of an UL BW,one more symbol can be used for HARQ-ACK transmission or for RStransmission in both UL BW parts or one more symbol can be used forHARQ-ACK transmission in first UL BW part and one more symbol can beused for RS transmission in second UL BW part. The OCCs used can beadjusted to reflect a number of symbols used for HARQ-ACK transmissionor for RS transmission.

For example, for a long PUCCH transmission over 10 symbols where 5symbols are transmitted in a first UL BW part and another 5 symbols aretransmitted in a second UL BW part, a length-2 OCC of {1, 1} or {1, −1}can be used for the signal transmitted in 2 symbols (this determines thetime-domain UE multiplexing capacity based on OCCs). For example, for along PUCCH transmission over 8 symbols where 4 symbols are transmittedin a first UL BW part and another 4 symbols are transmitted in a secondUL BW part, a length-2 OCC of {1, 1} or {1, −1} can be used for bothHARQ-ACK transmission and RS transmission. As previously mentioned, UEmultiplexing in the time domain can also be disabled to avoid acomplexity associated with a variable length OCC and then a respectivemultiplication by elements of an OCC can be omitted (equivalent to eachOCC value being equal to 1 as illustrated in FIG. 12).

For UCI payloads larger than 2 bits, structures similar to PUCCH Format2, PUCCH Format 3, PUCCH Format 4, or PUCCH Format 5 from LTE can beused for a long PUCCH. To address a variable number of slot symbols thatcan be available for a long PUCCH transmission based on the PUCCH Format3 structure, modifications to the PUCCH Format 3 structure are needed incase PUCCH Format 3 with variable OCC length is supported. For a longPUCCH transmission based on the PUCCH Format 4 structure or on the PUCCHFormat 5 structure, any reduction in a number of available symbols fortransmission is directly obtained from symbols used to transmit UCI asthere can be only one RS symbol in each part of the BW where the longPUCCH is transmitted. The same applies for a long PUCCH transmissionbased on the PUCCH Format 2 structure by having only one RS symbol ineach part of the BW where the long PUCCH is transmitted.

FIG. 13 illustrates another example first six symbols for a long PUCCHformat transmission 1300 according to embodiments of the presentdisclosure. An embodiment of the first six symbols for a long PUCCHformat transmission 1300 shown in FIG. 13 is for illustration only.Other embodiments may be used without departing from the scope of thepresent disclosure.

Encoded and modulated HARQ-ACK bits 1310 are multiplied 1320 by anelement 1330, 1332, 1334, and 1336 of a first length 4 OCC, such as {1,1, 1, 1}, or {1, −1, 1, −1}, or {1, 1, −1, −1} or {1, −1, −1, 1},respective outputs are filtered by a discrete Fourier transform (DFT),such as DFT 1340, followed by an IFFT, such as IFFT 1350, andtransmitted in respective symbols that are symbol 0 1360, symbol 2 1362,symbol 3 1364, and symbol 5 1366. A ZC sequence 1370 serving as RS ismultiplied by an element 1331 and 1333 of a second length 2 OCC, such as{1 1} and {1, −1}, respective outputs are filtered by an IFFT andtransmitted in respective symbols that are symbol 1 1361 and symbol 41363 The transmission in the second six symbols can have a samestructure as for the first six symbols and occur at a different part ofan UL system BW.

When a number of symbols in a hybrid slot for transmission of a longPUCCH further decreases, to accommodate a respective loss in a linkbudget, a number of frequency resources can increase for example from 1RB to 2 RBs or more as it is further subsequently discussed. Forexample, when an available number of slot symbols for a PUCCHtransmission is reduced from 14 to 6 or 8, 2 RBs can be used, while whenthe available number of slot symbols is reduced to 4, 4 RBs can be used.This can avoid multi-slot transmission for a long PUCCH from a UE whenthe UE is not power limited.

In one example, a gNB can provide an indication to a UE for a number ofRBs for the UE to transmit a long PUCCH using a DCI format schedulingone or more PDSCH transmissions that the UE transmits the HARQ-ACKinformation in response to their reception.

In another example, as such a number of RBs can depend on a number ofHARQ-ACK information bits transmitted by a UE, the UE can determine thenumber of RBs as the minimum number of RBs resulting to a largest coderate for the UCI transmission (including CRC bits) that is smaller thanor equal to a code rate that the gNB configures to the UE in advance byhigher layer signaling or is predetermined in the system operation. Forexample, when a gNB configures a UE with a set of four RBs and a DCIformat scheduling a PDSCH transmission to the UE indicates a second RBfrom the set of four RBs, the UE uses an additional RB consecutive tothe second RB when a code rate for transmission only in the second RB islarger than a configured code rate and a code rate for transmission inboth the second RB and the additional RB is smaller than or equal to theconfigured code rate.

In another example, a UE can determine a number of RBs from a number ofsymbols used for a long PUCCH transmission where, for example, one RBcan be used when the transmission is over more than 10 symbols, two RBscan be used when the transmission is over 7 to 10 symbols, and three orfour RBs can be used when the transmission is over 4 to 6 symbols. Forexample, a gNB can configure a UE with a number of sets of RBs, whereineach set has a same number of elements, for a respective number ofranges for PUCCH transmission symbols, an element in a first set cancorrespond to a same or different number of RBs than an element with asame index in a second set, and the UE can interpret an indication in aDCI format (scheduling a PDSCH transmission to the LE) for the RBs touse in a PUCCH transmission to be from the set of RBs that correspondsto the number of PUCCH transmission symbols.

In another example, a gNB configures a UE a code rate for HARQ-ACKtransmission in a PUCCH and multiple sets of RBs, wherein each set has asame number of elements. A DCI format scheduling a PDSCH transmission tothe UE includes an index field to an element of a set of RBs from themultiple sets of RBs. The UE determines the set of RBs and the elementof the set of RBs as the one resulting to a largest code rate for theHARQ-ACK information that is smaller than or equal to the configuredcode rate.

In order to improve a UE multiplexing capacity when using a long PUCCH,having for example a similar format to an UL data channel (PUSCH) suchas LTE PUCCH Format 4, spatial multiplexing of transmissions fromdifferent UEs can apply. To enable spatial multiplexing, orthogonal DMRSmultiplexing is required. In a first example, a CS and OCC valueindication (or only a CS value indication when for example when there isonly one RS per BW part where the long PUCCH is transmitted) for a DMRStransmission can be included in a DCI format indicating a resource forthe long PUCCH transmission (that is, the CS value can be part of thePUCCH resource indication—CS hopping can also apply for subsequent DMRStransmissions). Then, a DCI format scheduling a PDSCH transmission to aUE includes a CS and OCC configuration (or only a CS configuration) forthe UE to apply to a DMRS transmission in a PUCCH while a DCI formatscheduling a PUSCH transmission to a UE includes a CS and OCCconfiguration (or only a CS configuration) for the UE to apply to a DMRStransmission in a PUSCH. In a second example, a gNB can configure a UEthrough higher layer signaling, such as UE-specific RRC signaling, a CSand OCC value (or only a CS value) for DMRS transmission in a PUCCH. Ina third example, a UE can implicitly determine a CS and OCC value (oronly a CS value) based on, for example, a C-RNTI that a gNB assigns tothe UE.

For example, for a total of N_(tot) CS and OCC values, a UE candetermine a CS and OCC value for a ZC sequence or a CG sequence servingfor DMRS as (C-RNTI)modN_(tot) where C-RNTI is the C-RNTI value the gNBconfigures to the UE and ‘mod’ is the modulo operation. In case a UEtransmits a PUCCH from multiple antennas, each of the above CS and OCCdeterminations can apply for a DMRS transmission from a first antennaand a CS and OCC value for a DMRS transmission from remaining antennascan be determined with respect to the CS and OCC value for the firstantenna. For example, for two UE transmitter antennas, a CS and OCCvalue for the second antenna can be determined as(C-RNTI+N_(tot)/2)modN_(tot).

FIG. 14 illustrates yet another example process 1400 for a UE accordingto embodiments of the present disclosure. An embodiment of the process1400 shown in FIG. 14 is for illustration only. Other embodiments may beused without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

A UE detects DCI formats scheduling PDSCH transmissions and determinesan associated HARQ-ACK payload 1410. The HARQ-ACK payload corresponds toa use of a PUCCH format where encoded and modulated HARQ-ACK informationbits and potentially other UCI information bits, such as CSI informationbits, are rate matched over all symbols of a slot used for a PUCCHtransmission, similar to rate matching encoded and modulated data bitsover all symbols of a slot used for a PUSCH transmission. The UEdetermines a CS and OCC value for a generating and transmitting a ZCsequence or a CG sequence that serves as DMRS in the PUCCH based on aC-RNTI the UE is configured by a gNB through higher layer signaling1420. Subsequently, the UE transmits the PUCCH with an associated DMRShaving the determined CS and OCC value 1430.

In a second case, a long PUCCH is not always transmitted until a lastsymbol of an UL slot or of a hybrid slot and duration variability canoccur both at the beginning and at the end of a slot. For example, along PUCCH transmission cannot occur in last symbols of a slot when arespective BW cannot always be different than a BW used for other ULtransmissions such as for transmissions of short PUCCH, SRS, or PRACH.Then, a gNB can configure, for example by higher layer signaling, to aUE a number of last slot symbols for the UE to not include in a longPUCCH transmission, or a UE common DCI format can indicate whether lastsymbols of a slot are available for PUSCH or PUCCH transmissions, or aDCI format that a UE detects and, in response to the detection, the UEtransmits a long PUCCH in a slot, can include a field indicating anumber of last symbols in a slot for the UE to avoid for transmission ofthe long PUCCH, for example by indicating a first slot symbol and aduration for the long PUCCH transmission. Remaining aspects for a longPUCCH transmission can be as in the first case where a long PUCCH istransmitted until a last symbol of an UL slot or of a hybrid slot.

When a long PUCCH transmission spans multiple slots, a UE needs todetermine a number of symbols available in each of the multiple slotsfor the long PUCCH transmission.

In a first approach, a UE can assume a same number of consecutivesymbols, with same locations in a slot, for a long PUCCH transmission ineach of the multiple slots. The number of consecutive symbols and alocation of a first symbol, or of a last symbol, can be informed by aDCI format or by higher layer signaling configuring the long PUCCHtransmission in multiple slots. The number of slots, including one slot,can also be informed by a DCI format or by higher layer signaling. Themultiple slots can be either consecutive or, in general, have a patternfrom a predetermined set of patterns and a UE can be informed of apattern by a DCI format or by higher layer signaling configuring thelong PUCCH transmission in the multiple slots.

For example, a pattern of slots can be periodic and include ten slots, aset can include four patterns, and a UE can be configured one patternfrom the four patterns. For example, a pattern can be represented by abit-map of ten bits where a binary value of “0” indicates that arespective slot can be used for a long PUCCH transmission and a binaryvalue of “1” indicates that a respective slot cannot be used for a longPUCCH transmission over a number of consecutive symbols per slot. Foreach slot in each pattern that can be used for a long PUCCHtransmission, additional configuration can indicate a number of symbolsand a starting symbol available for a long PUCCH transmission.

FIG. 15 illustrates yet another example process 1500 for a UE accordingto embodiments of the present disclosure. An embodiment of the process1500 shown in FIG. 15 is for illustration only. Other embodiments may beused without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

A UE detects one or more DCI formats, such as DCI formats schedulingPDSCH transmissions 1510. Based on information fields in the one or moreDCI formats, the UE determines a first slot for a long PUCCHtransmission, a number of slots for the long PUCCH transmission, anumber of symbols in each slot for the long PUCCH transmission and, whenapplicable, a pattern of slots for the long PUCCH transmissions 1520.For example, a pattern is not applicable when all slots can be full ULslots in case of a FDD system. For example, a slot pattern can be onefrom a set of four slot patterns in case of a TDD system or of aflexible duplex FDD system. Subsequently, the UE transmits the longPUCCH starting from the first slot over the number of symbols in eachslot and in slots determined according to the pattern of slots 1530.

For example, the first slot can be a third slot in a third pattern fromthe set of four patterns and the transmission can be over four slotsthat are the third, fourth, seventh, and eight slots in the thirdpattern.

Instead of signaling in the one or more DCI formats a number of slotsN_(slot) for a long PUCCH transmission, a UE can implicitly determineN_(slot) based on a total number of symbols N_(symbols) ^(total) and anumber of symbols per slot N_(symbols) ^(slot) used for the long PUCCHtransmissions. The total number of symbols N_(symbols) ^(total) can beindicated in the one or more DCI formats or can be configured to the UEby higher layer signaling. For example, N_(slot)=┌N_(symbols)^(total)/N_(symbols) ^(slot)┐ where ┌ ┐ is the ‘ceiling’ function thatrounds a number to its next larger integer. A single frequency hop canapply for the PUCCH transmission after ┌N_(symbols) ^(slot)/2┐ symbols(or after └N_(symbols) ^(slot)/2┘ symbols where └ ┘ is the ‘floor’function that rounds a number to its next smaller integer), or after┌N_(slot)/2┐ slots (or └N_(slot)/2┘ slots) for a multi-slot PUCCHtransmission or frequency hopping can be per slot. Alternatively, a gNBcan configure to a UE a reference number of slots N_(slot) ^(ref) forrepetitions of a long PUCCH transmission for a reference number ofavailable symbols for long PUCCH transmission per slot N_(symbols)^(slot,ref), such as N_(symbols) ^(slot,ref)=14, and a UE can determinean actual number of slots N_(slot) ^(actual) for long PUCCH transmissionover an actual number of N_(symbols) ^(slot,actual) symbols per slot asN_(slot) ^(actual)=┌(N_(symbols) ^(slot,ref)/N_(symbols)^(slot,actual))·N_(slot) ^(ref)┐.

In a second approach, a UE can determine a number of consecutive symbolsfor a long PUCCH transmission in each of the multiple slots from aUE-group common DCI format. When the UE fails to detect the UE-groupcommon DCI format indicating a structure for a slot, the UE does nottransmit a long PUCCH in the slot.

Encoding of a codeword transmitted in a long PUCCH over multiple slotscan be over resources of one slot or over resources of more than oneslot. When encoding is over resources of one slot, a same encodedcodeword is repeated over resources in the multiple slots. When encodingof a codeword is over resources of a number of slots that is larger thanone, such as over two slots, a same encoded codeword is repeated overresources in the multiple slots for a number of times equal to the ratioof the number of multiple slots over the number of slots. For example,when the encoding is over two slots and a long PUCCH transmission isover four slots, the encoded codeword over the first two slots isrepeated over the second two slots from the four slots.

A selection between encoding a codeword over one slot and encoding acodeword over more than one slot can be indicated by a DCI formatconfiguring the long PUCCH transmission or can be determined accordingto a resulting code rate that is smaller than a predetermined orconfigured code rate. For example, when encoding a codeword overresources of one slot results to a code rate smaller than 0.5, encodingis over resources of one slot. Otherwise, when encoding a codeword overresources of one slot results to a code rate equal to or larger than 0.5and encoding the codeword over resources of two slots results to a coderate smaller than 0.5, encoding is over resources of two slots, and soon.

It is also possible that a number of symbols for a long PUCCHtransmission over multiple slots is not same but instead isindependently determined for each slot of the multiple slots. Forexample, a DCI format configuring the long PUCCH transmission overmultiple slots from a UE can indicate to the UE a number of symbols forthe long PUCCH transmission in each slot from the multiple slots.

For example, a UE can determine a number of symbols for the long PUCCHtransmission in each slot from the multiple slots by detecting one ormore UE-group common DCI formats indicating a number of symbolsavailable for long PUCCH transmission in each slot. For a long PUCCHformat based on a structure of LTE PUCCH formats 1a/1b/2/4/5,scalability can be achieved for an arbitrary number of slots. For astructure based on LTE PUCCH format 1a/1b, at least a pair of {DMRS,UCI} symbols exists in each slot. For a structure based on LTE PUCCHformats 2/4/5, at least two DMRS symbols exist in each slot andremaining symbols for long PUCCH transmission can be used for UCItransmission. In case of frequency hopping where a first number ofsymbols and a second number of symbols are respectively used for longPUCCH transmission in two separate frequency resources, the first numberof symbols can include one DMRS symbol, the second number of symbols caninclude one DMRS symbol, and remaining symbols can be used for UCItransmission. A same mechanism can also apply for a PUSCH transmissionover multiple slots where a UE can independently determine a number ofsymbols for the PUSCH transmission in each slot.

When a PUCCH transmission from a UE is with frequency hopping, atransient period exists for the UE to set a PUCCH transmission power toa target level after frequency hopping. An impact of the transientperiod on UE orthogonal multiplexing due to OCC application across DMRSsymbols or UCI symbols generally depends on a ratio of the transientperiod over the symbol duration. The smaller the ratio is, the smallerthe impact is. Therefore, for smaller values of sub-carrier spacingresulting to larger values of symbol duration, an impact of thetransient period can be negligible in practice while for larger valuesof sub-carrier spacing resulting to smaller values of symbol duration,an impact of the transient period can be detrimental to orthogonal UEmultiplexing using OCCs across DMRS symbols or UCI symbols.

A value of sub-carrier spacing can be defined so that when a sub-carrierspacing is equal to or larger than the value, use of OCC is disabled orPUCCH transmission in a first symbol after (or a last symbol before)frequency hopping is punctured. For example, use of OCC can be enabledfor sub-carrier spacing less than 60 KHz and disabled for sub-carrierspacing larger than or equal to 60 KHz. For example, a UE can transmitPUCCH in a first symbol after frequency hopping for a sub-carrierspacing value less than 60 KHz and puncture a PUCCH transmission in afirst symbol after frequency hopping for a sub-carrier spacing valueequal to or larger than 60 KHz. An OCC after frequency hopping can bedetermined by excluding the punctured symbol from the number of symbolsfor PUCCH transmission. For example, for DMRS or UCI transmission over 4symbols prior to frequency hopping and over 3 symbols after frequencyhopping, respective OCC lengths are 4 and 3 and a UE can use an OCC of{1 1 1 1} prior to frequency hopping and an OCC of {1 1 1} afterfrequency hopping to account for a punctured symbol (long PUCCHtransmission can be considered to be over 8 symbols where 1 symbol ispunctured).

Similar to a transient period required for a UE to set a PUCCHtransmission power to a target level after frequency hopping, atransient period is also required for a UE to set a PUCCH transmissionpower to a target level after a PUSCH transmission from the UE. A samesolution can apply regarding the use of OCC for a PUCCH transmission orfor transmission or puncturing of the first PUCCH symbol as for the casea transient period for the UE to set the PUCCH transmission power is dueto frequency hopping. Alternatively, a UE can puncture one or more oflast PUSCH transmission symbols.

A second embodiment of this disclosure considers a power determinationfor a long PUCCH transmission when a number of slot symbols availablefor the long PUCCH transmission are variable.

A formula for determining a PUCCH transmission power for can be adjustedto account for a number of slot symbols used for the PUCCH transmission.This enables use of a TPC command provided by DCI formats, including asingle DCI format, associated with the HARQ-ACK transmission in thePUCCH by a UE for compensating short-term fading experienced by the UE.When encoded and modulated UCI symbols are repeated in available slotsymbols (except for symbols used for DMRS transmission) for the PUCCHtransmission, a UE can determine a PUCCH transmission power in slot i ona cell c by including an adjustment factor for example as given byequation 3:

$\begin{matrix}{{P_{{PUCCH},c}(i)} = {\min{\begin{Bmatrix}{{P_{{CMAX},c}(i)},} \\{P_{{0{\_{PUCCH}}},c} + {\alpha_{c} \cdot {PL}_{c}} + {h\left( n_{UCI} \right)} + \Delta_{{F\_ UL}{\_ ctrl}} + \Delta_{TxD} +} \\{{g(i)} + {10\;{\log_{10}\left( {N_{ref}/{N_{actual}(i)}} \right)}}}\end{Bmatrix}\mspace{11mu}\lbrack{dBm}\rbrack}}} & {{Equation}\mspace{14mu}(3)}\end{matrix}$

where N_(ref) is a reference number of slot symbols, such as a totalnumber of slot symbols, and N_(actual)(i) is a total number of symbolsin a slot i used for the PUCCH transmission.

The adjustment in a PUCCH transmission power enables a UE to compensatea degradation in PUCCH reception reliability due to a PUCCH transmissionin an actual number of slot symbols that is smaller than a referencenumber of slot symbols by increasing an associated transmission power bya ratio of the reference number and the actual number. An additionaladjustment can occur when a transmission can be over a number ofM_(PUCCH,c)(i)≥1 RBs as given by equation 4:

$\begin{matrix}{{{{P_{{PUCCH},c}(i)} = {\min{\begin{Bmatrix}{P_{{CMAX},c}(i)} \\A\end{Bmatrix}\lbrack{dBm}\rbrack}}}{{Here},{A = \left\{ \begin{matrix}{P_{{0{\_ PUCCH}},c} + {\alpha_{c} \cdot {PL}_{c}} + {10\;{\log_{10}\left( {M_{{PUCCH},c}(i)} \right)}} + {h\left( n_{UCI} \right)} +} \\{\Delta_{F\_ PUCCH} + \Delta_{TxD} + {g(i)} + {10\log\; 10\left( {N_{ref}/{N_{actual}(i)}} \right)}}\end{matrix} \right\}}}}} & {{Equation}\mspace{14mu}(4)}\end{matrix}$

When encoded and modulated UCI symbols are rate matched over allavailable slot symbols, similar to PUCCH Format 4/5 in LTEspecification, a UE can determine a transmission power for a PUCCH inslot i on a cell c as given by equation 5

$\begin{matrix}{{P_{{PUCCH},c}(i)} = {\min{\begin{Bmatrix}{{P_{{CMAX},c}(i)},} \\{P_{0{\_ PUCCH}} + {\alpha_{c} \cdot {PL}_{c}} + {10\;{\log_{10}\left( {M_{{PUCCH},c}(i)} \right)}} +} \\{{\Delta_{{TF},c}(i)} + {\Delta_{F\_ PUCCH}(F)} + {g(i)}}\end{Bmatrix}\mspace{11mu}\lbrack{dBm}\rbrack}}} & {{Equation}\mspace{14mu}(5)}\end{matrix}$

where a power adjustment for a number of available slot symbols is notexplicitly required as it can be implicit through a value of theΔ_(TF,c)(i) that is defined as Δ_(TF,c)(i)=10log₁₀(2^(1.25-BPRE(i))−1)where BPRE(i)=O_(UCI)(i)/N_(RE)(i), O_(UCI)(i) is a number of UCI bitsincluding CRC bits transmitted on the PUCCH in slot i,N_(RE)(i)=M_(PUCCH,c)(i)·N_(sc) ^(RB)·N_(symb) ^(PUCCH), and N_(symb)^(PUCCH) is the number of available slot symbols for the PUCCHtransmission excluding slot symbols used for DMRS transmission in thePUCCH.

FIG. 16 illustrates an example power adjustment depending on a number ofavailable symbols for a PUCCH transmission 1600 according to embodimentsof the present disclosure. An embodiment of the power adjustmentdepending on a number of available symbols for a PUCCH transmission 1600shown in FIG. 16 is for illustration only. Other embodiments may be usedwithout departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

When a number of available slot symbols for a PUCCH transmission areequal to a reference number of symbols 1610, a UE transmits the PUCCHusing a first power 1620. When a number of available slot symbols for aPUCCH transmission are smaller than the reference number of symbols by afactor of two 1630, a UE transmits the PUCCH using a second power 1640.The second power is 10log10(2) dB=3 dB 1650 larger than the first power.

An HARQ-ACK transmission on a PUCCH from a UE can be in response to theUE detecting a first number of DCI formats in a respective first numberof slots, from a second number of DCI formats that a gNB transmits inrespective second number of slots on a cell. Each of the DCI formatsincludes a TPC field that provides a TPC value for the UE to adjust aPUCCH transmission power. As the UE can fail to detect one or more ofthe second DCI formats, each DCI format provides a TPC value so that theUE has a valid TPC value for adjusting the PUCCH transmission power evenwhen the UE detects only a single DCI format from the second number ofDCI formats. TPC values can be different in different DCI formats.

When the UE detects DCI formats conveying different TPC values, the UEcan consider a last TPC value in determining an adjustment for a PUCCHtransmission power. One reason for this behavior is that when the gNBcannot predict future scheduling decisions, the gNB cannot predict aHARQ-ACK payload. Then, when the UE transmits a PUCCH in response to theUE detecting a number of DCI formats and when different PUCCH formatsthat have different UL power control processes are associated withdifferent HARQ-ACK payloads, the gNB needs to determine a value for theTPC command based on the PUCCH format associated with the HARQ-ACKpayload that results from the gNB transmitting one or more of the lastDCI formats from the number of DCI formats. As previously discussed, theDCI formats can also include a field indicating the PUCCH format. TheDCI formats can also include a field indicating the HARQ-ACK payloadfrom a predetermined number of HARQ-ACK payloads. For example, a“HARQ-ACK payload” field can be represented by 3 bits mapping to valuesfrom a predetermined set of {4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512}.

In some embodiments, dynamic SR transmission opportunities areconsidered for a PUCCH. A gNB configures a UE, for example by higherlayer signaling, a starting slot and a periodicity of slots for SRtransmissions in a PUCCH and a corresponding resource for the PUCCHtransmission (SR resource). For example, when a PUCCH structure for SRtransmission is based on LTE PUCCH Format 1, the SR resource can includea RB in an UL BW, a CS for an associated CG sequence and an OCC for useacross slot symbols. The UE can only assume availability of the SRresource when the UE detects a DCI format conveyed by a PDCCHtransmitted from the gNB in a slot and indicating SR transmission in theslot. The slot is one of the slots determined by the starting slot andthe periodicity of slots. The starting slot can be from a predeterminednumber of slots such as 10 slots and the periodicity can be from a setof predetermined periodicities such as {1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128}.For example, when a gNB configures to a UE a second slot as a startingslot and a periodicity of 4 slots for SR transmissions from the UE, theUE can transmit a SR in a PUCCH when the UE detects a DCI formatindicating SR transmission in slot 2, 6, 10, and so on. When the UEdetects the DCI format indicating SR transmission in any other slot, theUE does not transmit a PUCCH conveying a SR. The DCI format can becommon to a group of UEs (and have a CRC scrambled by UE-group RNTI)that have a same serving cell including all UEs in the serving cell.

FIG. 17 illustrates yet another example process 1700 for a UE accordingto embodiments of the present disclosure. An embodiment of the process1700 shown in FIG. 17 is for illustration only. Other embodiments may beused without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

A gNB configures a UE, using higher layer signaling, a starting slot, aperiodicity of slots, and a resource of a PUCCH format for a SRtransmission from the UE 1710. The gNB transmits and the UE detects in aslot a UE-group common DCI format conveying an indication for SRtransmission 1720. The UE examines whether or not the slot is in thegrid of slots, as determined by the starting slot and the periodicity ofslots, for SR transmission 1730. When the slot is not a slot for SRtransmission from the UE, the UE does not transmit a PUCCH conveying aSR 1740. When the slot is a slot for SR transmission from the UE, the UEdetermines whether or not the UE has a positive SR to transmit 1750.When the UE does not have a positive SR to transmit, the UE does nottransmit an UL control channel to convey a SR 1760. When the UE has apositive SR to transmit, the UE transmits a PUCCH to convey a SR 1770.

Although the present disclosure has been described with an exemplaryembodiment, various changes and modifications may be suggested to oneskilled in the art. It is intended that the present disclosure encompasssuch changes and modifications as fall within the scope of the appendedclaims.

None of the description in this application should be read as implyingthat any particular element, step, or function is an essential elementthat must be included in the claims scope. The scope of patented subjectmatter is defined only by the claims. Moreover, none of the claims areintended to invoke 35 U.S.C. § 112(f) unless the exact words “means for”are followed by a participle.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for transmitting a physical uplinkcontrol channel (PUCCH), the method comprising: receiving a firstdownlink control information (DCI) format that triggers a transmissionof the PUCCH; determining, based on an indication by the first DCIformat: a first symbol in a slot, and a number of consecutive symbols inthe slot; and transmitting the PUCCH over a first number of slots,wherein for each slot from the first number of slots: the PUCCHtransmission starts at the first symbol, and the PUCCH transmission isover the number of consecutive symbols.
 2. The method of claim 1,further comprising: receiving a second DCI format that triggers atransmission of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) over a secondnumber of slots; determining: a first number of symbols in a first slotfrom the second number of slots, and a second number of symbols in asecond slot from the second number of slots, wherein the first number ofsymbols is different than the second number of symbols; and transmittingthe PUSCH: over the first number of symbols in the first slot, and overthe second number of symbols in the second slot.
 3. The method of claim1, wherein: a field in the DCI format indicates a resource from a set ofresources for the PUCCH transmission, and the resource includes thefirst symbol, the number of symbols, and the first number of slots. 4.The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving informationproviding the first number of slots.
 5. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving information for a periodic pattern of slots; anddetermining slots of the first number of slots based on the pattern. 6.The method of claim 1, wherein: the PUCCH transmission includes acodeword, the codeword is included in resources of the PUCCHtransmission over one slot when a code rate of the codeword over theresources of the PUCCH transmission over one slot is smaller than orequal to a threshold, and the codeword is included in resources of thePUCCH transmission over more than one slot when a code rate of thecodeword over the resources of the PUCCH transmission over one slot islarger than the threshold.
 7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:receiving information for the threshold.
 8. A user equipment (UE),comprising: a transceiver configured to receive a first downlink controlinformation (DCI) format that triggers a transmission of a physicaluplink control channel (PUCCH); and a processor operably coupled to thetransceiver, the processor configured to determine, based on anindication by the first DCI format: a first symbol in a slot, and anumber of consecutive symbols in the slot, wherein: the transceiver isfurther configured to transmit the PUCCH over a first number of slots,wherein for each slot from the first number of slots: the PUCCHtransmission starts at the first symbol, and the PUCCH transmission isover the number of consecutive symbols.
 9. The UE of claim 8, wherein:the transceiver is further configured to receive a second DCI formatthat triggers a transmission of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)over a second number of slots, the processor is further configured todetermine: a first number of symbols in a first slot from the secondnumber of slots, and a second number of symbols in a second slot fromthe second number of slots, and wherein: the first number of symbols isdifferent than the second number of symbols, and the transceiver isfurther configured to transmit the PUSCH: over the first number ofsymbols in the first slot, and over the second number of symbols in thesecond slot.
 10. The UE of claim 8, wherein: a field in the DCI formatindicates a resource from a set of resources for the PUCCH transmission,and the resource includes the first symbol, the number of symbols, andthe first number of slots.
 11. The UE of claim 8, wherein: thetransceiver is further configured to receive information providing thefirst number of slots.
 12. The UE of claim 8, wherein: the transceiveris further configured to receive information for a periodic pattern ofslots, and the processor is further configured to determine slots of thefirst number of slots based on the pattern.
 13. The UE of claim 8,wherein: the PUCCH transmission includes a codeword, the codeword isincluded in resources of the PUCCH transmission over one slot when acode rate of the codeword over the resources of the PUCCH transmissionover one slot is smaller than or equal to a threshold, and the codewordis included in resources of the PUCCH transmission over more than oneslots when a code rate of the codeword over the resources of the PUCCHtransmission over one slot is larger than the threshold.
 14. The UE ofclaim 13, wherein: the transceiver is further configured to receiveinformation for the threshold.
 15. A base station, comprising: atransceiver configured to transmit a first downlink control information(DCI) format that triggers a reception of a physical uplink controlchannel (PUCCH); and a processor operably coupled to the transceiver,the processor configured to determine, based on an indication by thefirst DCI format: a first symbol in a slot, and a number of consecutivesymbols in the slot, wherein: the transceiver is further configured toreceive the PUCCH over a first number of slots, wherein for each slotfrom the first number of slots: the PUCCH reception starts at the firstsymbol, and the PUCCH reception is over the number of consecutivesymbols.
 16. The base station of claim 15, wherein: the transceiver isfurther configured to transmit a second DCI format that triggers areception of a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) over a secondnumber of slots, the processor is further configured to determine: afirst number of symbols in a first slot from the second number of slots,and a second number of symbols in a second slot from the second numberof slots, and wherein: the first number of symbols is different than thesecond number of symbols, and the transceiver is further configured toreceive the PUSCH: over the first number of symbols in the first slot,and over the second number of symbols in the second slot.
 17. The basestation of claim 15, wherein: a field in the DCI format indicates aresource from a set of resources for the PUCCH reception, and theresource includes the first symbol, the number of symbols, and the firstnumber of slots.
 18. The base station of claim 15, wherein: thetransceiver is further configured to transmit information providing thefirst number of slots.
 19. The base station of claim 15, wherein: thetransceiver is further configured to transmit information for a periodicpattern of slots, and the processor is further configured to determineslots of the first number of slots based on the pattern.
 20. The basestation of claim 15, wherein: the PUCCH reception includes a codeword,the codeword is included in resources of the PUCCH reception over oneslot when a code rate of the codeword over the resources of the PUCCHreception over one slot is smaller than or equal to a threshold, and thecodeword is included in resources of the PUCCH reception over more thanone slots when a code rate of the codeword over the resources of thePUCCH reception over one slot is larger than the threshold.